Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 2 Can we just accept reality?
On August 1778, 8, the United Churches and the Kingdom's Ministry of Religious Affairs jointly promulgated the "Decree on Restricting the Operation and Preaching Rights of Illegal Church Organizations Such as Spiritual Prayer Societies and Druids", referred to as the Religious Decree, which prohibits the 12 religions mentioned in the decree from establishing churches and spreading their beliefs in the Western Continent. Violators will be arrested by the United Churches and various countries.

On June 1855, 6, a supplementary decree to the religious decree was promulgated, expanding the scope of restrictions from the 5 religions mentioned in the decree to all religions in the Western Continent except the seven major orthodox churches. All religions, regardless of size, must complete rectification within days. If they exceed the deadline, they will be banned by force.

On October 10 of the same year, a "Notice of Deadline for Correction" was delivered to Lingge.

The person who brought him the notice was Patton, the patrol officer in charge of public security on this street. He was an amiable young man with a round face that always had a smile on it, so people in this neighborhood affectionately called him "Round-faced Patton." However, at this moment, there was an apologetic expression on his friendly round face.

"I regret to inform you of this news, Mr. Ling. The deadline for rectification stipulated by the decree is less than two months away. Mr. Longning of the City Parish Committee is eagerly awaiting your reply and has asked our office for this many times. I hope you will sincerely understand our difficulties and make a decision as soon as possible to avoid exceeding the deadline."

After saying that, he pushed down his dark blue police hat with his hand to express his apology.

Linger carefully examined the notice in his hand, and finally fixed his gaze on the date. He frowned slowly: "It is the responsibility of good citizens to abide by the law, but I have never heard of this law before. Why did you wait until the deadline to send me the notice?"

This made Officer Patton startled, but soon a smile appeared on his round face: "Perhaps there is some misunderstanding, Mr. Ling. As early as the second week after the decree was issued, I had already sent the notice to your church, but you seemed to be out for something at that time, so your sister Metien received it on your behalf. As for the specific situation, I don't know."

Metien?
After getting the answer, Ling'er frowned even deeper, and recalled in his mind his sister's abnormal behavior in the past few months. She always hid what she was doing from him and even slacked off in her preparation for the pharmacist qualification examination. He was once confused, but now it seems that the answer is in his hands.

"I will take care of this matter." He folded the notice and nodded to Barton, saying, "I won't keep Mr. Langning waiting for me for too long."

Maybe he felt that his plan was successfully hidden from his brother.

Lingge walked over, put the plate on the desk, and said to his sister: "Take a break, Metien, and eat an apple first."

***
Tianxin Church is located at No. 13 Songshi Street, Santa Cross District. It is a two-story building with a sloping roof. Because it needs to take into account the functions of a residential building, it does not have the solemn style of traditional religious buildings. Even though the walls are painted white, it cannot hide the fact that it is old, and mottled cracks have appeared in some places.

At this time, Metien was reviewing relevant materials for the pharmacist qualification examination at the desk. Linger saw the short pink braids behind her head swinging, and she seemed to be in a good mood.

In the small kitchen behind the chapel on the first floor, Lingge washed two apples, peeled them, cut the flesh into beautiful shapes, put them on a plate, and brought them to his sister Metien's room on the second floor. He knocked on the door and pushed it open after receiving a response.

Good people have good luck?
Lingge stared at his departing back, pursed his lips and said nothing.

The young police officer's eyes flashed with relief. It seemed that the urging of the city parish committee in the past few days had indeed put a lot of pressure on him. Now that the matter was resolved, he had no intention of staying any longer. He said goodbye to Lingge and prepared to continue his patrol mission today. But before leaving, he gave Lingge a blessing: "Don't worry too much, Mr. Lingge, you are a good person, and you will definitely have good luck."

The girl who was studying hard looked up when she heard the words, her emerald green eyes filled with joy: "Is it the ones I bought at the Garden Market? It is said that the origin can be traced back to the Liufende Mountain in the White City Republic. It is the purest variety? It even caused the King of the White City to start a war for it?"

“No.” Ling Ge shook his head and corrected: “The origin can be traced back to and the origin is. These are two different concepts. The vendor is just trying to sell the goods.”

"Okay." Metien was obviously a little disappointed with his words, but she still chose to accept it. She picked up the fork and put a piece of the cut fruit into her mouth. She bit it with her teeth, and the sweet juice immediately overflowed her mouth, making her look happy. Lingge also ate a piece of fruit, but not for the taste, but because he knew that if he didn't eat it, Metien would make the same request later. She was always keen to share good things with her brother.

While enjoying the fresh and sweet fruit, Metien asked curiously, "The day after tomorrow is the traditional seven-day ceremony, Lingge, aren't you going to prepare to host the ceremony?"

The Holy Scripture of the Holy Goddess Church states that the great goddess created the world in seven days, so this cycle has important significance among the followers of the goddess, and thus derived a seven-day worship, namely the Seven-Day Ceremony. Coincidentally, the seven-day cycle also coincides with the current Gregorian calendar. Based on this, Mr. Yang Ke, the father of Metien and the first resident pastor of Tianxin Church, believes that the astronomer who originally formulated the Gregorian calendar is most likely a follower of the goddess.

Lingge did not answer immediately. He chewed the sweet and crispy fruit in his mouth carefully. After swallowing it, he slowly replied, "No need to prepare it."

"Why, was there an accident?"

"No, it's just that I don't have to prepare anymore in the future."

The fork froze in mid-air. The girl turned her head stiffly. Her brother's calm face was reflected in her eyes. She forced a smile with difficulty: "I, I didn't know you would make such a joke before, Lingge, you scared me..."

"I'm not kidding, Metien." Linger's eyes were calm, and his light golden eyes were a little too clear, making people feel that they were as empty as a mirror. He said softly: "This morning, Mr. Barton sent me a notice of the deadline for the renovation of the church. According to the supplementary regulations of the Religious Ordinance, Tianxin Church must be closed within the prescribed period and will no longer be eligible for public preaching. I have decided to abide by the law and am preparing to discuss with Mr. Langning of the Municipal Parish Committee to strive for more favorable conditions..."

"What conditions can compare to the church that our father left us?" Metien stood up from his chair suddenly. Although he was a head shorter than his brother, he looked straight at him fearlessly and argued: "This is the only legacy we have that belongs to our father. His last wish before he died, have you forgotten it, Lingge?"

"I remember clearly that Mr. Yang Ke's last wish before his death was that we could have a stable and peaceful life." Ling Ge said softly to his sister, "I am responding to his expectations."

"That's not an excuse, Lingge! Even if it's the Religious Decree, it has no right to take away from us the last inheritance our father left us. We should appeal to the City Parish Committee. Even if we have to bring the matter to the Kingdom's Religious Affairs Headquarters, we must save Tianxin Church!"

"That's a tough attitude, Metien. I never knew you had this side." Lingge was indifferent to his sister's suggestion, without even blinking an eyebrow. The girl puffed out her chest slightly: "This is a necessary struggle!"

"The Spiritual Prayer Society also fought, but they failed, and as a result, the Druids, the Holy Spring Monastic Order, the Fertile Soil Sect, and other churches of the same origin were all deprived of their religious power by the Religious Decree. Do you think the influence of our Holy Goddess Church can be comparable to that of the above churches?"

The girl was immediately speechless.

Not to mention being comparable, there is simply a world of difference.

"So, I'm not here to ask for your opinion, Metien. Our opinions are never important to those big men. I just have to tell you something."

The brother's hand gently covered the soft pink hair, and his voice became low: "Learn to accept reality."

(End of this chapter)